{And thus We made their case known,} means, "We caused the people to find them.'

Several scholars of the Salaf mentioned that the people of that time were skeptical about the Resurrection. 'Ikrimah said: "There was a group of them who said that the souls would be resurrected but not the bodies, so Allah resurrected the people of the Cave as a sign and proof of resurrection." They mentioned that when they wanted to send one of their members out to the city to buy them something to eat, he disguised himself and set out walking by a different route, until he reached the city, which they said was called Daqsus. He thought that it was not long since he left it, but in fact century after century, generation after generation, nation after nation had passed, and the country and its people had changed. He saw no local landmarks that he recognized, and he did not recognize any of the people, elite or commoners. He began to feel confused and said to himself, "Maybe I am crazy or deluded, maybe I am dreaming." Then he said, "By Allah, I am nothing of the sort, what I know I saw last night was different from this." Then he said, "I had better get out of here." Then he went to one of the men selling food, gave him the money he had and asked him to sell him some food. When the man saw the money he did not recognize it or its imprint, so he passed it to his neighbor and they all began to pass it around, saying, "Maybe this boy found a hidden treasure." They asked him who he was and where he got this money. Had he found a hidden treasure? Who was he? He said, "I am from this land, I was living here yesterday and Decianus was the king." They called him crazy and took him to the king who had replaced Decianus. They asked him about his story and he told them about it. He and the king and the people of the city went out to the cave, and when they got close to it, he said to them, "Let me go in first and let my companions know." So he went in, and it was said that they did not know how he went in, and that the people did not know about their story. It was also said that they did enter the cave and see them, and the king greeted them and embraced them. The king was a Muslim, and his name was Yandusis. They rejoiced at meeting him and spoke with him, then they bade him farewell and went back to sleep, then Allah caused them to die. And Allah knows best.

Those who said this were the people of power and influence, but were they good people or not? There is some debate on this point, because the Prophet said:

"Allah has cursed the Jews and the Christians who took the graves of their Prophets and righteous people as places of worship."

Warning against what they did. We have reported about the Commander of the faithful 'Umar bin Al-Khattab that when he found the grave of Danyal (Daniel) in Iraq during his period of rule, he gave orders that news of this grave should be withheld from the people, and that the inscription containing mention of battles etc., that they found there should be buried.